Every Tuesday morning a large and colourful market is held in the former fishermen’s village Arguineguin.

Besides a variety of products manufactured and grown on the island (aloe vera, mangos, cacti fruits, potatoes, the famous “mojo” sauces etc.), one can also find cheap clothes, second – hand goods, everyday objects, watches, sun glasses, African handicraft and a lot more.

Basically everything you can expect of such a diverse market place.

The market area is situated just at the entrance to the town, only meters away from the first big roundabout when coming from Maspalomas.

The bright sun and the restaurants surrounding the market are the reasons for all the happy people there. A soft breeze carries the scent of the sea, which can be seen sparkling behind the market stands. Street musicians and artists entertain the visitors.

Dozens of different languages can be heard in the alleys and streets.

The market has become a must see not only for tourists from all over the world, but for the locals too.

Around noon the market place starts to fill with visitors. After we satisfied our curiosity and desire to buy, a walk along the sea front of Aguineguin presents itself to be the perfect option.

The warm air and the crystal clear water of the Atlantic Ocean give us a wonderful idea: swimming in the sea.

It’s in the middle of January but everything seems to be different here.

Gran Canary has everything one can wish for. One just feels comfortable here…even on a very normal Tuesday in the middle of January.

Sunset Gran Canaria, taken by myself with an Iphone

View over Arguineguin, Gran Canaria, taken by brother of Lucy

Nenoteca, Puerto de Mogan

For nearly 24 years I have come to Mogan-Playa regularly more than once a year to spend some time with my sister who’s been living on the island for all those years. I really thought that I had seen it all, especially regarding the restaurants. This November however we got really surprised.

We had a meal at a restaurant which just opened some months ago, situated in a quieted corner of a little back-alley of Puerto Mogan. They serve Italian food – NO – don’t think: “Oh, another of these”. It’s called “N’enoteca” and the owners, Greta and Alessandro, come from the region of Le Marche in Italy. They are authentic as well as the food they serve. Everything is homemade and gets prepared after you have placed your order. The prosciutto is divine,the tagliatelle are just perfectly “al dente”, the sauces are pure heaven and the meat is absolutely delicious. If you wish, Alessandro will serve you every wine he’s got on the menu per glass. To finish it’s a big “MUST” to have dessert. As desserts are homemade as well you think you are in heaven. I live in Switzerland and we have got very good Italian restaurants, but believe me, Alessandro’s and Greta’s “N’noteca” is just superb, also regarding the prices, as they are really very reasonable, too.

So, then in Mogan, go there and you’ll have a wonderful meal while spending some quality-time in this little quiet alley.

By Marianne, Theresas sister

Veneguera Beach ist located in the south-west of Gran Canaria. This beach looks more like those typical beaches of Lanzarote. Black volcanic stones, fine dark sand and nothing more than silence.

The reason for this silence ist that there is not any building in the area. Above all because you can reach this beach only on a gravel and stone trail. Its possible to go there by car but be sure to have one with a  good suspension

To reach Venguera Beach just take the road Gc-200 from Mogan, then turn left towards San Nicolás and after a few kilometers again turn left towards Veneguera. You will pass by an idyllic valley full of mango trees, banana farms and huge palm trees.

This corner of the island is one of the last nearly untouched areas of the island. Really worth a visit for all nature-lovers!

A beautiful fishing village carefully extended with new buildings that blend in perfectly with the old traditional Spanish style, a marina full of vibrant colours & walkways and a golden sandy beach.  This is how you will picture Puerto de Mogán today but how many of you know about its past and what it looked like years ago?

Until the 1980´s Puerto de Mogán was a sparsely populated fishing village. The people of Puerto de Mogán earned their livelihood from 2 main sources:  fishing and agriculture but once the coastal road network reached Mogán the change began and with this the traditional agricultural and fishing activity started to be replaced by its current tourism activity.

Rafael Neville, born in Malaga was the mastermind and main sponsor of what is now known as “Puerto de Mogán – The Little Venice of Canarias”, his intention was to build the best breathtaking urbanization in the Canary Islands and even though many believed that there would be no room for expansion either physically or economically he insisted and work commenced in 1983 finishing in 1988, the project required extensive land reclamation from the deep Atlantic Ocean and this is where the fishing harbour and marina area now lies.

More recently constructed in 2004 is the hotel “Cordial”, a four star hotel distributed over a surface area of 48.000 square meters full of botanical gardens.  The design of the hotel and its grounds fit in perfectly to maintain the delightful and peaceful atmosphere that Playa & Puerto de Mogán have become known for thus making it one of the most popular places to visit in the Canary Islands.

Photo from 1965 from website http://www.fotosantiguascanarias.org/

On Friday 13.05 the roof of one of the buildings was finished and according to the building tradition the “Puesta de bandera” (fixation of flags) was celebrated. The tradition  includes a small celebration to which in this case the neighbours were invited as compensation for their comprehension for the noise during the works. The flags you can see here are the Dutch (the promoters nationality), Spanish and Gran Canarian.

The building is of high quality and the progress is better than the estimated date of completion.

More info here

The valley Barranco de Mogán in the south of Gran Canaria is without any doubt one of the most beautiful valleys of Gran Canaria.

You will find many palm trees, old pine trees, cactus and up to 1.500 meters high mountains surrounding this lovely valley. This valleys were formed during thousands of years and the power of the natural forces.

The Barranco or Valley of Mogán is located very close to villages like Mogán, Puerto Rico, Arguineguín. Even from Maspalomas it takes just a 20 minutes drive to enter into this astonishing valley. But as pictures say more than a thousand words we would like to present you this picture gallery.

If you drive up the road towards the mountains you will get to the ancient pine tree wood of Pilancones, the resevoir of “Presa de las Niñas” and finally you will pass by the mountain Roque Nublo, one of the landmarks of Gran Canaria. But thats a story we would like to tell you another time.

Again with pictures of our photographer Thomas Borstner.

Compliments are always nice to receive especially when they come from people in the know. Leading on line travel experts Trip Advisor have just released their list of the top ten beaches in Spain and Gran Canaria has 3 entries. Playa del Ingles, Maspalomas, and Mogan have come up trumps due to their quality and amazing popularity with holiday makers who leave comments on the Trip Advisor website.

As a further show of what a holiday magnet Gran Canaria is Playa del Ingles has also made the top 25 beaches in Europe, quite an achievement. Regular visitors and settlers in Gran Canaria will not be surprised by these accolades, the southern tourism zone is packed with large clean beaches that are great for families to enjoy.

Maybe the beaches will entice you to make the move to Gran Canaria but once you have arrived you will discover all the other attractions such as stunning natural beauty and modern facilities plus of course the relaxed pace of life.